Jesus Of Nazareth

Paula Fredriksen's brilliant new book cuts through the fog of conflicting images by focusing on two indisputable facts: Jesus was crucified by Rome but none of his immediate followers were harmed. The fact that Pilate rounded up and executed none of Jesus' followers suggests that he knew Jesus posed no such threat. So why, then, the crucifixion.
Her focus on these two anomalous facts compels Fredriksen to radically re-evaluate the historical worth of traditions in John's gospel that have been discounted or overlooked. Her reconstruction of Jesus' mission and message ends by situating Jesus plausibly in his native religious milieu and in accounting why and how the proclamation of Jesus' kingship had the consequences if did both for Jesus himself and for his earliest followers.